1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method that improves time references in documents. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method that improves referencing time notations in electronic documents, such as email messages, when participants are in different time zones.
2. Description of the Related Art
Email messages are an important communication tool used in businesses and many other organizations. Email allows users to communicate with others that are in different parts of the world at little expense. A further advantage of email messages is that, unlike traditional telephone conversations, the recipient can choose when to open and read an email message. While email messages are extremely helpful in aiding communication amongst email users, traditional email messages face particular challenges.
One challenge faced by traditional email systems is the reference of time in email messages. If a user in the Eastern Time (ET) Zone sends a message to a recipient in the Central Time (CT) Zone indicating that a tele-conference will be conducted at 2:00 PM, the recipient may be confused as to whether the call is at 2:00 PM ET or 2:00 PM CT. While the sender may indicate the time zone (e.g., “the teleconference will be held at 2:00 PM ET”), the recipient is still often faced with trying to figure out how many hours are between the time zones. This problem is exacerbated when users are in various parts of the world where the time zone difference is greater than one or two hours. If the recipient does not calculate or understand the correct time, the recipient may not realize when the event (e.g., the teleconference) is occurring and result in missing the event. This challenge is again exacerbated when multiple recipients are invited to an event such as a teleconference and the result of one or more recipients missing the event is that the event is canceled or cannot be conducted as intended.
FIG. 3 depicts an example of the challenges faced in the prior art using a traditional email system. Email originator 310 is in the Eastern Time (ET) Zone and sends an email message via computer network 200 indicating that a conference call is at 2:00 PM. Recipients 320 and 330 are in the Central Time (CT) Zone and the Pacific Time (PT) Zone and receive the same message indicting that the conference call will be held at 2:00 PM. However, without further information, recipients 320 and 330 do not know if the conference call will be held at 2:00 PM Eastern Time or if the call is at 2:00 PM in their respective time zones. A misunderstanding in this regard likely results in one or both of the recipients failing to join the conference call at the appointed time.